Making a living with STT SNGs

After 3rd session:
181 minutes played
1852 hands
EV 16.1bb/100
Running at 28.1bb/100

Interesting session. There are lots of spots that are not big hands but rather hands that were border line. I choose to fold them but once I do HH review in depth I will check out if there was missed call on some of them. My gut feeling tells me that I missed at least 1 profitable call. Also this session was full of bad run outs for me in 3 bet pots in particular. I could have won half buy in more for sure but I am happy with the end result. Focus was C+ B- at best so when I look at the big picture I am happy that I dealt with all those spots good enough not to burn any money - which was not the case 6 or 3-4 months ago in CG. Definite improvement in mental and tactical game, no doubt.

Will do 1 more session now and then Partizan Belgrade game at 8:30pm!!!

Graph:

48 Days Challenge

Day 1

After 4th session:
241 minutes played
2298 hands played
EV 13.5bb/100
Running at 22.4bb/100

Roller coaster 4th session! Lost 2 stacks right in the beginning. 1st stack was Kxs where I flopped 2nd nuts flush in 3 bet pot BTN vs SB. Turn we got it in and opponent had nuts flush - all read less of course! 2nd stack was brutal 4 bet pot where I value bet flop and x/c opponents turn shove. I took whole time bank to brake down his turn shove vs my check range and decided to call which was the right thing to do!!! Opponent had AQss while I had AJo on Jc4s9s8c! Opponent hit his T for gutter on river and took away the whole stack. Now, before with such 2 scenarios where I played my best but lost, my mental game would have went down and I would have lost more. Today I managed to climb back and return to 250 euro profit for the day.
Later in the evening, will review marked hands and do hand reading for all the spots that were shaky.

Now going to deserved rest and to prepare for Partizan Belgrade game that starts in 32 minutes!
NAPRED PARTIZAN!

Was listening to this song through out the grind 4th session and some of the 3rd!

Day 1 graph:

Picture of the day:

P.S. Boston feeling much closer after days like today!

Damn man, it's like a class reunion up in here, with UPFD also making an "Ali like return to the ring"

<3 the DKM's soundtrack btw!

nice graphs there, and ppl getting it in pre w' K2o and 75s mbn! (still plenty fishies in CGs obv)

re Spins: It wasn't in my plans originally, but I'm seriously considering them now, as huht crushers seem to be making bank in them, and they have definitely taken a lot of the rec. action away from husngs

GL with the new challenge!

@ sherriffatman
Very nice to see Gary back. He used to be integral part of PS team and helped so many members. Really cool guy !

DKM's are cool but I choose that track because of Boston MA obviously It is my arriving destination, place where I plan to spend most of my time while in USA!
There are fishes in every format, even on nl1k you will find some whale who donates stacks. So in that sense it will keep being profitable. Just the level today and years back is different. Now you need to play minimum 3 regs per table and 2 unknowns or 2 fishes at best. Whenever the ratio is higher then that for recreational players that is considered a gold mine. Another thing is that having a reg at the table does kill your win rate one way or the other. Now if you work harder and smarter, you can be ahead of them and take money from those regs also, but they are not going to get it in with TT pre flop UTG vs BTN calling off 5 bet shove, that just doesn't happen unless that reg is super aggro and spewy. So your variance increases playing regs of course because stacks will swing back and forth, a lot of post flop situations will depend on card distribution also. Of course, this is NL50 and regs at this level are not as good as Nl1k regs, but the difference in fundamentals is not that big IMO, however in post flop NL1k reg understands every texture and range vs range play for flop turn and river while NL50 reg is playing a guessing game or doing things by gut feeling. This is why for example yesterday in 4 hours of grinding I saw at least 5 spots where reg was double or triple barreling the hand that shouldn't be even c betting or at best c betting flop and should shut down later streets. So that example right there covers what I was saying before, they are not balanced post flop, they don't know any GTO nor proper range construction and they are gut players that play a large guessing game. On large sample of hands vs them I expect to always be a good winner even tough I myself have leaks that need to fix but my game is enough to beat this stake easily.
BTW K2o and 75s fishes... I leveled them in both cases, brought them to tilt hard. That K2o guy was 3 betting me like 3 times BTN vs CO and I kept folding, then I 4 bet shoved and he snapped with K2o. To him it looked like I was bluffing because my 4 bet shove seemed like I was tilting when in fact I had stone cold nuts and got payed off. The other fish, he kept opening BVB and I was getting absolute trash and folding. Then I got AKo and 3 bet shoved for 30+bb vs his 3bb open and he snapped with 75s. He did hit 7 on the flop but I caught on the river A or K (don't remember now).
May there be more donations like that every day and then I can reach my BR goal for USA faster!

Glad you are considering the Spins. Know minimum 5 players that play them semi or successfully (depends what you consider success?). They can be beaten for sure but you need BR to endure swing, learn your PF game well and study range vs range post flop, you can make HUGE EDGE in that area.

Thanks for the wishes for the challenge, I will aim to continue with high level of game play. 2k hands minimum, go for 4 sessions that add up to 4 hours, take brakes when I feel it is needed etc.

Enjoy the weekend on and off the tables!

48 Days Challenge

Day 2

After 5th session:
300 minutes played
3022 hands
EV 11bb/100
Running at 18.9bb/100

"Only" 33.47 euro won pre RB in this session or 7.83bb/100. Very interesting session in a lot of ways. Some notable hands from the session. AhQc BTN vs BB 3 bet pot where I cold pre. Flop hit top pair + BDNutFD, opponent c bet 2/3 OOP and I call. Turn is another heart which was 4h , full board being Qx8h6h4h, opponent checks I bet vs missed and he x/jams , I bet/call TPTK + nut fd, he turns 1 combo of QQ So similar spot to yesterdays 1 combo of AA on Axx when I had AK. That was 1 buy in lost. Another cool hand, I open AQo UTG, BTN cold calls and BB as well. Texture is Ac6h4h where I have AhQx. SB donks 1/3 mway I call and so does BTN turn is another 6, now SB keeps donking 1/2 this time I call BTN folds. River is yet another 6 so now I have full house sixes and aces, opponent bets 19 into 20 $ pot and I call he has A6o LOL GG. Cooler or not, you be the judge but I am never folding in that spot especially after it runs out like that 6 6. Some very good bluff catches in the session and value bets. There was one tricky hand with 130+bb effective with KK where I cold called 3 bet where I didn't want to 4 bet and fold to 5 bet - very debatable hand. Felt I lost minimum in that hand as Axx flop came and opponent double barreled I called flop and turn and folded river with KK IP.
My focus was probably C to B- in this session. I think I could have made more money and played some spots more agressively especially red line wise. Also, most of my pre flop action did not go as planed and that is why red line is not where it should be ideally.

Graph after 5 sessions:

Heading now to 2nd session for the day but before that , music for the day!

48 Days Challenge

Day 2

After 6th session:
362 minutes played
3749 hands
EV 14.8bb/100
Running at 22.5bb/100

Easy game session. Think I made 130+ euro in this session pre RB. Didn't really have any difficult spots + some opponents donated me money which helps always. Very happy with my river play when it comes to extracting maximum value, was working on that mentally and tactically, doing my best to predict how average opponent and regs act with different action sequence or bet sizing , especially on river. It is paying off obviously which makes me happy. All the off table work coming to strong life! 1 spot where I lost a half stack vs recreational player was when I bet called his shove with KK with a spade blocker and flop was 85ssx, he got it in with FD+SD (combo draw) where he got straight flush on the turn, GG.

Graph after 6 sessions:

Short brake before I proceed to 3rd session for the day. In the meanwhile this music going in the back ground - very good stuff from Metheny as always!

48 Days Challenge

Day 2

After 7th session:
421 minutes played
4470 hands
EV 11.3bb/100
Running at 14.5bb/100

One of those sessions! Lost vs fish pre flop with AQo vs KTo 1 full stack. vs reg another stack CO vs SB called of 5 bet shove with AKs vs JJ, didn't win it obviously and reg was very aggro (expected bluffs in those spots as 5 bet shove also) Another spot SB vs CO opponent double barrel shove on busted FD texture where there is SD busted also , I called with JJ on 98xxhh, he showed 98s and took the stack well played, his shove looked polarized to 2 overs + FD, SD+pair and such since it was over bet shove turn so I had snap call there vs all FDs and SDs easy game just ran into top of the range. JJ also top of my defend to 3 bet range there so hand I am absolutely calling when opponent double barrel shoves in such spot vs all those busted draws. Of course I have 2 pairs + hands there that are snap call but must also call over pairs in this spot vs all the drawing hands opponent over bet shoves. So that is 3 stacks lost. Other than those hands rest hands were played standard and there were no weird spots to deal with. Again good value betting and bluff catching, very happy with that area of my game.
Short brake and 1 more session remaining for the day!

Music after such session:

Graph after 7 sessions:

48 Days Challenge

Day 2

After 8th session:
481 minutes
5129 hands
EV 4.96bb/100
Running at 10.2bb/100

Brutal last session!
EV dropped cause I won with AKs vs AA pre flop all in super standard spot got FD flop caught the flush on turn. Then again lost super standard flips QQ vs AKo this time pre flop vs reg again. And then there was 5 pots that I lost 20bb+ worth with super standard bet/calling flop and turn, folding river or just in 3 bet pots calling or x/calling flop and turn and folding river. Just standard session full of bad run outs for my hands that I was holding and really favored opponents barreling ranges.
Overall I am happy with how I played this session despite dropping the profit down. There are hands that I will check and do range brake down tomorrow morning and some of them tonight before bed. Those flips I lost vs regs and it goes back to what I said earlier and very important to note - having regs in your game decreases your expected ROI always. Those flips are inevitable pre flop for 100bb with AKs and JJ QQ type of hands. Regardless of everything, today I played 236 minutes, 2296 hands, EV was 8.66bb/100 and ran at 5.81bb/100, won 68.10 euro pre RB. I am satisfied with this result despite the fact that things could have ended better. I set 4-5bb/100 pre RB and day like today is perfect example how to stay on track for such win rate. I however see that I have edge for higher bb/100 so I will of course try my best to end the challenge with over 4-5bb/100 , aim for 7bb+ for example. If I focus more on better table selection and adding 1 or 2 more clients, that will certainly be much easier attainable!

BTW, after checking graphs I see that HM2 is doing something wrong. Graph for the day shows profit and EV bb/100 as I mentioned. On the whole graph for the challenge it looks like a BE day. Pretty weird. Tried restarting,loading date filters again but it does the same. Some sort of a bug no doubt.
Anyways, I will post graph for the day and for the challenge.

Graph for Day 2:

Graph after 8 sessions:

Picture of the day:

48 Days Challenge

Day 3

Coffee place session and the rest

Lovely start of the day. Woke up early as usual, break fast and then studied. After studying took over 1 hour to help one CG player over Skype when it comes to constructing ranges post flop.
Followed UEFA draw for Partizan Belgrade, we play BATE Borisov and have very strong chance to enter Champions League. I plan to go to Belgrade for that game for sure towards the end of August (day away from poker???).
Went for coffee with best friend. I played 1 hour NL25 ZOOM 4 tabling. Internet was shutting down constantly so I was switching between cell phone WiFi and coffee place's. In the end, crushed that session pretty hard. Could have been better but bluff catches on river ran into super strong ranges.

Lets not count this session for the challenge even though profit was made. Simply because it was NL25 ZOOM and not NL50 Reg Speed.

Results for the coffee place session:
1 hour
693 hands
EV 12.4bb/100
Running at 20.72bb/100
Profit pre RB 35.90$ or 32.81 euro

None the less, here is the graph for that session played at coffee shop:

Now preparing to start actual NL50 Reg Speed session for the day.
Yesterday figured out what was wrong with graphs. HM2 has wrong time set. Yesterday I actually made 6-7$ pre RB! 3rd and 4th session butchered me hard as I described it. So graph for the whole challenge is correct while graph for the whole day is not!

Enjoy your weekend on and off the tables!

48 Days Challenge

Day 3

After 9th session:
541 minutes played
5766 hands
EV -0.20bb/100
Running at 4.32bb/100

Another brutal session! The difference between this one and previous 2 yesterday is that today I played C+ at best. So definitely I could have save some of the 140$ lost in the session, at least 1 buy in IMO.
It was difficult because difficult spots started coming up right in the beginning of the session. What usually happens is when I loose big hands right at the beginning of the session some old tilt triggers might get activated. It didn't happen today as before some months ago but I definitely felt in my mind like I was telling myself "top of the range again". And yeah, there was value bet shoving river and opponent snap calls with BDFD that he called turn x/r with and got there on river! These kind of things happen,nothing I can do there. 1 buy is my mistake for sure and it is in 4 bet pot post flop stacking off. Opponent surprised me what he 4 bet pre also in that spot but that doesn't matter, should have used x/c flop and evaluate turn instead of x/shove flop vs his c bet which made no sense! So that is 2 buy ins right there. Half buy vs fish with TPTK where fish had straight after he limped (of course those gappers are in his limp calling range), so could have ran away there potentially but TPTK vs fish is gold mine realistically speaking, not too unhappy with that decision. 30bb worth hand total lost on river on 998TK where I had KT and fish had QJ of course 48bb lost BVB with ATo on A67r 33 vs 3 barrel vs hyper aggro guy who turned AJ, standard bad beat there. Rest of the losses were in 3 bet pots after calling flop and turn folding river on very bad run outs for my range that favour opponents barreling range - nothing I could do there to change.
So overall I would rate this session 3.5/10 in my book. Focus was not perfect, made mystakes in my play post flop which cost me minimum 1 buy in. Regardless of the fact that card distribution was brutal and there were set ups, it is not excuse for me to play like I did. This was worse session since start of the challenge! Will pick myself back up, rest 10-15 minutes and get back to tables with stronger focus. As you see I review hands after each session to see how much variance affected results and here I was nowhere near happy with my play, I could have saved from 142.52$ lost at least 50$!

Here is the graph after 9 sessions:

Music for the day:

48 Days Challenge

Day 3

After 10th session:
601 minutes played
6445 hands
EV -4.20bb/100
Running at -0.06bb/100

Card dead session without winning any 3 bet pot as both initial agressor and caller. Actually 1 of the hands I won (among the last ones for the session) when I had JTs on JTxKx OOP x/c 3 streets opponent 3 barrel ATo BTN vs HJ. Besides being card dead, every single bluff catch did not work. When I had strong hand they had very strong hand. When there were busted FDs and SDs in 3 barrel spots and I had TP or 2nd pair, opponent had over pair
Overall one of those sessions where things simply don't go in any way no matter what you do. I felt at times like I was playing live poker, completely card dead. I did not allow that to affect my style of play so didn't go hyper aggro or anything like that. Kept playing my game and am definitely much more satisfied with this then previous session. Focus was C+ at minimum but like I said, not much I could do to affect the results in this one.

Dinner break and then going for 3rd session. Current run doesn't discourage me at all on contrary I have will and drive to keep playing and crush NL50 hard!

Here is the graph after 10 session:

48 Days Challenge

Day 3

After 11th session:
660 minutes played
7035 hands
EV -4.15bb/100
Running at -1.44bb/100

1 big mistake where I gave away stack on river. For 3 bet pots same stuff like whole day today and part of it yesterday, no connecting and textures where opponents are snap calling regardless if I am IP or OOP Another new thing which causes red line to drop is massive amount of mway pots. Most of the time I am OOP and again textures are not suitable to bluff in any way so I end up x/f majority of the time.
Session that went in waves of good and bad plays. With this kind of playing I did today at best I can expect BE pre RB. Really not happy with 3 sessions overall today, at least 3 stacks were my fault and that is just too much!
Short break and then off to 4th session which I very much look forward to (to grind)!

Here is the graph after 11 sessions:

48 Days Challenge

Day 3

After 12th session:
720 minutes played
7413 hands
EV -2.09bb/100
Running at 0.48bb/100

Much better session compared to all of them today. There were 1 or 2 mistakes that I remmember but not major ones. In regards to 3 bet pots, I was connecting much better and getting payed off. Also bluff catches worked particularly well in this session. I could have made more in this session if I didn't do those 1 or 2 mistakes I mentioned.
Overall the day was a disaster results, focus and tactical game wise (could do muchhhhhh betterrrrrrrr!!!). There were lots of difficult spots and tonight and tomorrow morning I will review how much variance played actual role (doing good plays but always running into top of the range) and how much of it was my fault. From top of my head, I feel today at least 3 buy ins are my fault and that is a lot for 2k+ hands. That won't fly for the whole challenge so I need to pick myself up and keep pushing in future days.

Before posting graph for the challenge, some things to notice:
- I played 12 hours in 3 days as anticipated
- With this pace I shall reach 100k hands much sooner since I am already at 7413 hands
- I play more than 500 hands per hour, actually more than 600 per hour. This means that challenge won't last 48 days but shorter. With 600 hands per hour it should last 167 hours or 42 days.
- It seems that I will have after all 6 days free minimum in those 48 days!!!

Having said all this, I am considering to take a day off tomorrow, go to Belgrade in the afternoon/evening, see my best friend from Boston perform, hang out and have a good time, sleep and tomorrow during the day get back home. I also want to say bye to his wife and kid who are most amazing people and I feel they are really blessed to have each other in their lives.

I shall make this decision later tonight as I will call my best friend now and arrange the trip or not

Here is the graph after 12 sessions:

Picture of the day:

Enjoy your weekend on and off the tables!

48 Days Challenge

Day 4

After 13th session:
781 minutes played
7917 hands
EV -1.04bb/100
Running at 0.31bb/100

Only 1 session today. Studied and grinded before 3pm. From 3pm on had family time until 11:30pm. Got back home and am about to hit the bed soon.
As far as session goes, I started it with negative 2 or so buy ins lost. Then I got into the rhythmn and crushed 2 buy ins or so, returned to somewhat BE session or so. Again not winning AK vs QQ or so but this is standard stuff, after all QQ is favorite
Thing to note, traffic was terrible for 2 clients, at 1pm there was maximum 5-6 tables that I could get running. I really need to add 1 or 2 more clients soon. Will sit down and figure out what network will be the most +EV to add for 2-3 potential more tables into the mix for table selecting

Here is the graph after 13 sessions:

Picture of the day:

Music of the day:

Originally posted by IvicaIliev77
Again not winning AK vs QQ or so but this is standard stuff, after all QQ is favorite

Lies! QQ is a dog when you hold it and is the nuts when villain does!

Originally posted by UPAY4DINNER

Originally posted by IvicaIliev77
Again not winning AK vs QQ or so but this is standard stuff, after all QQ is favorite

Lies! QQ is a dog when you hold it and is the nuts when villain does!

Same with JJ ♦

and TT and 99 and 88 etc etc!

48 Days Challenge

Day 5

After 14th session:
843 minutes played
8231 hands
EV -2.13bb/100
Running at 0.09bb/100

Quite interesting session. I believe I was up through out the whole session then dynamics started to kick with 1 reg in particular. He raised me 3 times in 3 bet pots and final hand of the session I bet/shoved and he had it. That is what happens when he is on top of the range yet his raise flop in 3 bet pots was over 20%! He was either hitting 4-5 times within 1 hour or he just feels this can go unpunished (believe its the 2nd case). I bet/shoved for bluff but with strong equity but he had a set and I didn't catch up.
Don't feel bad at all about the play I made there its just funny that his aggression went unpunished. I see him at tables very frequently and he started to play back at me a lot. Will make sure to do full HUD analysis for him and take out notes on all areas to exploit him.
Another thing about 1st session of the day was traffic. There was simply very little of it, played 3-4 tables most of the session until I started table starting or joining table with 2 players. Towards the end of the session had 7-8 tables but that is not enough for 600 hands per hour that I plan to maintain through out each session.
Anyways, session ended as BE or so, I feel I could have won 1+ buy in especially if I avoided that leveling in the last hand vs reg, but I am happy with my play and great things will follow with session like this one.

Short break and moving to 2nd session.

Here is the graph after 14 sessions:

48 Days Challenge

Day 5

After 15th session:
902 minutes played
8666 hands
EV 0.93bb/100
Running at 3.34bb/100

Thank God Its Weekend or TGIW People donated me a lot of stacks, 3 at least! They made some very light bluff catches where I was (finally) on top of my range and it payed of for me. I think in the beginning of the session I made some mistake, started swinging 1 or 2 stacks and then getting back. Past sessions have all been about that rhythm in the beginning of the sessions. I am working a lot on it to start crushing with maximum focus every session. It is not always doable especially after bluff doesn't go through in the 1st big hand, but I will keep working at this and it will definitely improve the win rate in the long run.
When I look at back those 8666 hands and 15 sessions, I could have made definitely over 5bb/100 in this period instead of 3.34bb/100. Sure there were flips that I didn't win, or running into top of opponents range + bluff catches that were snap into bad beat spots. Regardless, I made mistakes with some stacks , would say at least 4-5 stacks in those 8-9k hands and that is a lot IMO. This kind of level is not something that makes me happy regardless of how challenge ends before or after 100k hands. It is evident that I need to work 100% on focus in the beginning of the sessions and I will return with warm up routine, doing HH reviews in depth and occasionally using music as a motivation and brain trigger to start analyzing all the hands much more faster and clearer in game!

Anyways, will make another break and continue playing. I played HU also and at most had 7 tables. Traffic is really low and I need to add 1 more client asap if I want to maintain this schedule and play sessions before 4pm!!!

Here is the graph after 15 sessions:

48 Days Challenge

Day 5

After 16th session:
946 minutes played
9046 hands
EV -0.51bb/100
Running at 0.49bb/100

A bit crazy session. Again in the beginning bad start. This time it wasn't so much about big hands but more about not using proper bet sizing to generate enough fold equity on river. Got called 3 or 4 times this way on the river which resulted into a stack lost or more. Then I started to get back into it, 3 bet pots working out and value bet + bluff catching going well. Then I lost a bit brutally 2 buy ins. KK vs AKo pre flop CO vs BTN, opponent gets there on river all in pre and AQo on Q262 3 bet pot BTN vs SB where SB x/shoves vs my 1/3 pot bet (to induce) on turn and shows 23s (with very aggro pre and post flop stats!). So those hands are main reasons why I went down 3 buy ins total in the whole session.
Took a brake, watched some Serbian football, took a nap and now will complete remaining 2 sessions for the day.
Hope that there will be more then enough traffic for 7-8 tabling since it is 8pm now.

Here is the graph after 16 sessions: